Steph helped catapult the Warriors to an impressive win over the Rockets after being within one score of them with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. He chipped in an impressive 40 points on 23 shots and 13 makes, with 21 of those points coming in the last twelve minutes of the game. That twenty-one-point quarter was Steph’s 37th career 20-point quarter, passing Kobe Bryant for most by any player since at least the 1996/97 season when they officially kept track of the stat.

After the game, Bonta Hill and the postgame crew informed Curry that he had passed Kobe and his response was well said, “Man that’s nice.”

Steph was most likely honored to have passed the Bean and was recalling all the times that he had called him nice at the game. Kobe admired real talent and hard workers in the NBA, with the Splash Brothers being no different. They also had a few battles later in Kobe’s career and early in Steph’s where he was still becoming the player that he wanted to be. Most players back then viewed Kobe as their Michael Jordan so I am sure he modeled parts of his game after Kobe, especially the Mamba Mentality when it comes to scoring and shooting the ball.

He left an impact on many players in today’s game, including Harden who is third on the list with 25. It was only fitting that Curry became number one in that category against Harden’s former team and a team who the Warriors have a complicated history with in the past few years. This breakout game is coming at a great time, as Curry has been struggling as of late, but I believe that his struggles are a result of us as fans setting our expectations for him so high. We almost expect him to have 30+ points every night with at least 4 or more threes because that is who he is, the best shooter ever.

And fans realize this, as during his last few minutes in the game while at the free throw line, he received MVP chants.... From Houston fans in Toyota Center. Even the pregame and postgame look like Warriors home games, this was the scene the other night in Houston.

If at this point you are not appreciating Steph’s greatness, then you are missing out. This outburst of twenty plus points in one quarter alone just proves how great he really is. And to sit at number one in that category is an amazing feat to add on to his already historic 2022 season.

(photo credit: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)